The Wisdom of Love and War
by CrAzYmIlKsHaKeS
Summary: Athena and Aries have a child who is banished from olympus for years. Can Athena's new love help her deal for 16 whole years?
1. An earthbound ruling

**Chapter One**

Athena cried out as Zeus passed down the final ruling on the fate of her daughter. She fell to the floor, her short brown hair almost covering her eyes. Aphrodite brushed back her own tears as she looked down to see the tears flowing freely from Athena's steel-grey eyes. Aphrodite was taken aback. She knew that this was also her child, but to see the goddess of wisdom in tears was almost too much.

Zeus had asserted his power as the GOD of the gods and decided on the punishment for Athena's newborn daughter. Aphrodite moved to wrap her eyes around the shorter goddess, but Hermes touched her shoulder and risked a glance into the far corner of the room. Aphrodite followed his gaze to see Hera, Zeus's wife standing there. Aphrodite got the message loud and clear. "Stay away from Athena right now," Hermes whispered. "Hera can make your lives hell and I'm not talking to far from literally here."

Zeus's voice rebounded as he repeated the punishment for those who had not heard the first time. "As a result of a crime committed by Aries, the god of war, this child is to be punished also. Her father has been banished from all Olympus and his temple has been torn down. This child, as a result of her father's crimes, has been sentenced to a fifteen year banishment. She shall live the first fifteen years of her life as a mortal in one of the lesser known countries to Athens. She then shall be given the choice whether to return to Olympus or remain in her home on Earth on her sixteenth birthday. This word is law and shall be carried out. Anyone attempting to pass on information about her birth shall be put to death."

Zeus turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, not before handing the baby to Hermes. Athena stood as if to take her child, but Hermes whispered, "It will be better that you don't see her off, Athena. I'm sure you understand." Athena nodded and walked off, towards the Temple of Knowledge. Aphrodite followed her friend out and waited for Athena to speak. She didn't have to wait long.

"FIFTEEN WHOLE YEARS!!" Athena cried out before sinking to the ground under an apple tree. Aphrodite sat down and tried to comfort the younger goddess. The goddess of love was at a loss as to what to do until Athena said, "Hera did this. I know it."

Aphrodite looked over at Athena and quirked a brow. Athena motioned for the blond goddess to follow her and lead Aphrodite into the Temple of Knowledge. Athena summoned drinks for them both and sat on a couch opposite Aphrodite to explain herself.

After what seemed like ages, both goddesses jumped at a knock on the door. Athena brushed her hair back and opened the door, letting her swollen eyes rest on the soft emerald green eyes of Pandora. "Dory," Athena said, as she led the young woman into the temple. Pandora nodded her hello at Aphrodite and took a seat on the sofa. Athena sat down beside her and the young Pandora started talking to both older women.

"I'm really sorry about the girl," she said. "I know you both would have loved taking care of her on Olympus, letting all the gods and goddesses teach her their tricks, but you have some things to be happy for." Athena glared at Pandora, an unspoken request for the young woman to "drop dead and take her happy-go-lucky attitude with her".

Pandora let a ghost of a smile flit across her tanned face before continuing. "You still have friends. Both of you have the other. You have temples you can run to where no one can enter. The best of all is now that Zeus has placed Ares and his sister in the cell on Gorgon, no one can severely harm your girl while she's on Earth or back on Olympus."

Pandora picked up a branch of purple grapes and left the two women alone the think.

_**MEANWHILE ON EARTH**_

Hermes flew back towards Olympus. The delivery of the baby had gone smoothly. He had found a young couple at an adoption center and had persuaded them to give the young girl a good, kind, loving home. He had no doubts that the girl would be given the best care. After all, the family was a distant relation to Hades. While God of the Underworld he might be, all his relations were kind, caring people who would have trouble hurting a fly.

Hermes reached Mount Olympus in record time, just in time to see Pandora leaving Athena's temple, heading in the direction of the Temple of Wars. Zeus had asked the young woman to help them take all the items out of the temple and save them in a safe house until they could find the new war god or goddess.


	2. Arnia's Day

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Yeah? Really? Well, seven to you to, Mrs. Williams!" one boy called from his chair by the teacher's desk in basic art. The girl sitting in one corner of the room glanced at him, but he didn't notice. No one noticed. No one knew she had started the using numbers to replace cusswords over lunch while making up a test. No one knew she was even still alive. It wasn't that everyone hated her or that they wanted her to die. It was just that she was so easy to overlook.

The girl always sat in the corner, at the table by herself, away from everyone else. She was quiet, shy, and studious. She only stood at 5 foot 1, making her easy to overlook. Her hair fell in thick brown waves when she wore it down, which she never did. It was always pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her skull. She never dressed up; simply wear either jeans or men's shorts with a regular tee shirt and a pullover hoodie if it was cold. She made her self easy to overlook and ignore.

Arnia sat in the back of the room, smiling at the antics of her classmates. She shook her head and laughed as Andrew kept yelling about sevens and fours and knew he'd never knew who started that, just that it was cool, and that was fine with her. She had always been one to not care about getting credit for things, never wanted to be in the spotlight, but always wanted to be the one who knew she was in it even if no one else did.

Arnia was still smiling as she went back to drawing her picture. They had to take a saying and paint a picture for it and she was doing that "Eternity is but a moment in His eyes," a quote close to her Christian heart. She was working on drawing out the basic outline for it, a clock lying on the ground with landmarks in time rather than lines and numbers. It was going to look cool once she had finished with it.

She glanced up at the clock and smiled as she saw that there were only a few moments in class. She quietly placed her drawing in the folder up front for unfinished work and went to grab her book bag off the counter in back where they were supposed to keep them. She was stopped almost at the counter by her one close friend in the class, Amy Misenhiemer.

"You always ignore me, Ms. Sit-in-the-corner," Amy teased her. "O think I'm starting to feel a little insulted over here. I'm just left all alone with Andrew and his fours and sevens and threes."

Arnia laughed, her clear laugh ringing across the room as the bell rang. Someone on the other side of the room actually looked up to see just who had a laugh that contagious and sweet. The two friends walked out of the room and went their separate ways at the main hallway.

Arnia arrived in the gym just a few moments before the late bell rang out over the school. She waved to one of the teachers of 9th grade PE, Mrs. Buchanan, and walked to her locker where her best friend in the world, Kolton, was standing. Technically, Arnia's locker was on the other side of the locker room, but Kolton was the only person Arnia really knew in the locker room. She was one out of many in the 30 foot by 30 foot room of ugly green baskets with padlocks that pass for lockers.

Kolton brushed out her rust colored hair and threw her hair brush in Arnia's general direction. Arnia reached out with a quick flick of her wrist and caught the brush with ease as Kolton pulled her hair back in a ponytail up high with a large grey scrunchie that accented the grey flecks in her blue eyes.

The whistle blew, signaling to them that Mrs. Mansfield had come into the locker room and it was time for their torture of the day. Fortunately it was the last class of the day and the two girls only had to endure it for about 60 minutes when you counted time for changing in and out of uniforms, stretching, roll call, and explanations for the day's activities. Then they were free for the weekend.

Seventy-five minutes later, both girls met up, breathless and tired in the locker room again. They barely managed to get changed into their clothes to go home before the bell rang. Both girls jumped into the air and cheered as soon as they stepped into the courtyard out front of the school. Both girls walked across the street outside the school and separated at Arnia's house, only 2 minutes away from the school, with a promise to meet in the band hallway before school the next day.


End file.
